Kids

29

This family… Let me just walk down memory lane with you for a minute. <3

I met them on a very chilly morning in November of 2015.

They then decided to come back to me in 2016 and we were blessed with storm clouds. It was gorgeous. <3

and now this… I am pretty sure they have some special potion that makes all of their sessions perfection. Who knows. It may be the same magic that gave Lilly her perfect dimples and bright eyes. I don’t know, but I do know I love this family, and have had the privilege of seeing them 3 years in a row now. They have already booked their session for next year, and I can’t wait to see what the future brings. <3

I specialize in “Family” Photography (Children, Newborn and of course Families) with a lifestyle and fine art twist. I love this style blend as it helps me focus on showcasing beautiful connections while incorporating the imagination of the every day magical moments.

30

I think one of the things I love most about working with young children is their unbridled joy. It is always genuine. Always open. Always beautiful. Their eyes are a direct window in to their hearts. One of the most precious things I can give to a mom and dad is to be able to see how much their family loves them. Sometimes in the midst of the work of “life” we forget how deeply and beautifully those we love, love us back.

It’s gorgeous, and I never get tired of getting to witness it.

I specialize in “Family” Photography (Children, Newborn and of course Families) with a lifestyle and fine art twist. I love this style blend as it helps me focus on showcasing beautiful connections while incorporating the imagination of the every day magical moments.

04

I couldn’t love these people any more than I already do. They have been through so much, and have kept their eyes on what is important, and found hope in the middle of so much uncertainty. It’s beautiful really. To watch someone walk through horribly hard circumstances, and cling to each other instead of pushing away.

I can’t help but love these images, because they represent their whole world. The 3 of them. In love with each other, and genuinely enjoying their moments together.

I specialize in “Family” Photography (Children, Newborn and of course Families) with a lifestyle and fine art twist. I love this style blend as it helps me focus on showcasing beautiful connections while incorporating the imagination of the every day magical moments.

24

I don’t often do cake smashes, but this was so much fun! As she sat there, she kept looking at the cake and barely wanting to touch it. Her sister, was eager to show her what she was missing out on though. As soon as her big sis sat down next to her, she just lit up, and they had so much fun feeding the frosting to each other. <3

I have had the wonderful experience of seeing her grow this past year. We have done a photo session about every 3 months and it’s been so special to document these “little” moments. I know all too well how quickly the first year passes. I can’t imagine a better way to celebrate her first birthday than with photos that have all of her favorite people in the world in them.

Happy Birthday!!!

I specialize in “Family” Photography (Children, Newborn and of course Families) with a lifestyle and fine art twist. I love this style blend as it helps me focus on showcasing beautiful connections while incorporating the imagination of the every day magical moments.

04

Holy chicken!!! I can’t believe how many pictures I took this month! It’s a good thing I started editing them early…

What would the 4th of July be without sparklers and fireworks?!?

I hear “Can I hold the baby?” about a million times a day and it seems like we are all a little extra tired lately. lol

She has changed our world and we are all so much better for it. <3

Dress up

We found a blue hat at Unclaimed Baggage that he absolutely fell in love with!

Madie had her newborn photos taken with Heartstrings by Heather. Heather is a wonderful photographer and seriously amazing at styling! I can’t wait to see how they turn out. I got to take a few behind the seines shots for Heather while she worked.

3 week check up! I am wondering if the scale was off… lol. She was only 7lb 1oz when she was born. I am having a hard time believing she gained a whole 1lb 10 oz in just 3 weeks!

My Aunt Patti came down from Indiana to visit! While she was here she cooked for us (many times), cleaned my house, painted both of the kids rooms, watched the kids so I could go run errands and gave us some great tips on how to improve our bowling score! Can’t wait to see here again in September!!!

I couldn’t help it! I decided to take a few newborn images of my own. <3

I don’t know how she didn’t wake up with 4 wiggly kids touching her at the same time, but I seriously love how it turned out. So much sentimentality in one image!

I may need to take a shot like this every month. The couch cushions would be a great way to show her growth!

Emma decided Madie needed someone to snuggle with. She told me that she loves her baby doll and wanted Madie to play with her. lol

#FarmLife

She was just standing there in her cute “twirly dress” and the wind was blowing in her Xtrutuf boots… I absolutely love going out to the land. So many beautiful moments while we work on our dreams.

Many of the images I took this month were taken on my new Fuji x100f. I purchased it primarily for my personal photos but after taking these with an underwater housing I am seriously considering using it to offer pool sessions next year! I seriously LOVE it! I have always struggled with needing an extra bag and an extra hand for my D750. The Fuji has enabled me to capture personal moments that would have just gone undocumented. It’s small enough to go with me EVERYWHERE (including the pool!) and that is exactly what I needed.

I think I may need another external hard drive if I keep taking pictures the way I have been this past month! lol

But seriously, I am so pleased with my Fuji x100f. It’s small enough to bring it everywhere with me and I can hold it with one hand! (a must if you have 5 kids) I have been able to capture so many more moments than I would have with my Nikon. It’s seriously a game changer as I pursue documenting my own family. <3

Jul

08

Wow! I knew this past month felt busy, but as I went through all the photos I was surprised at how many I had. I am really enjoying my renewed commitment to our own family photography. I am having a hard time remembering to bring along my camera, and now with a newborn, I won’t have 2 hands to take photos with. I have been eyeing the Fuji X100F. I finally pulled the trigger and ordered it yesterday. I am hoping it will give me the ability to continue documenting our moments with one hand on the go! lol

This past month Michael was mowing the back yard and saw this little bunny. It didn’t even move when he walked over to pick it up. The kids all got to hold it before we let it go through the hole under the fence. <3 Emma cried when he let it go though. She told her daddy later “I wanted to keep the baby bunny forever.”

I have been adding items to my client closet quite a bit lately… Lots of mama dresses, but I am also trying to have a good selection of children’s accessories and outfits as well. The hat and suspenders are from Roman & Leo and the adorable outfits my daughter is in, are from a local boutique designer, Petticoat Patch. I absolutely love it when I get to use my own kids as models. It gives me an excuse to get some “professional photos” of them. I honestly have so many ideas that I want to do with my kids but finding the time to pull it off doesn’t often happen.

The truck they are sitting on was my husbands Grandpas. My husband is planning on restoring it with our boys as they grow. Until then it makes the perfect classic “Southern Summer” prop as they ate their fresh peaches.

More pics of different dresses available in the JMP client closet. <3

I read somewhere that “Children don’t truly own anything, so when they give you a gift, even if it is just a rock, they are giving you everything they have.” As soon as I processed it, I realized how true and meaningful that bit of wisdom was.

He gathers treasures for me everywhere he goes. I have a special little pile of dried flowers, rocks and little trinkets he has found for me over time sitting next to my computer. <3

This past month we celebrated my husbands Grandparents 60th wedding anniversary. A good chunk of his family came to town and we had a great time visiting and catching up. We both come from large families so when we all get together it makes quite a large group!

It was also the weekend of Fathers Day. After taking photos for the “big group”, my 4 year old Noah (who idolizes his daddy and after we gave him his new shirt ran in to his bedroom and changed his to “match”) asked me to take a picture of him and dad together.

The biggest thing that happened this past month was that we were blessed to welcome Madison Joy in to our family. Born June 30th at 3:15pm, 7lb 1oz, 19in long. Long story short, she is completely perfect in every way and we are head over heals in love with her.

I am already looking forward to going through all of the photos of our kids getting to know their little sister for next months post (and experimenting with my new camera!). <3

Jun

15

There was a time I wondered if these images would ever get taken! We had to reschedule TWICE because of the weather and then at the last minute we did another schedule switch because I had a Saturday come available at the last minute and we new the weather would be nice.

With all of that said, I was PRAYING on the way to their session that it would be fantastic! Even though the reschedules were out of my control, this type of thing never happens and I just felt so bad!!! I desperately wanted it all to be worth it for this amazing family. <3

Fast forward a bit and I seriously couldn’t be happier with the images we got! Goodness!!! They are all gorgeous but on top of that we did some serious “bonding” with all of the fun we had. Jumping, running, twirling, laughing, kissing, snuggling, finding baby frogs, catching grasshoppers and just genuinely enjoying each other.

This family is amazing,

and it shows,

in every single image. <3

I specialize in “Family” Photography (Children, Newborn and of course Families) with a lifestyle and fine art twist. I love this style blend as it helps me focus on showcasing beautiful connections while incorporating the imagination of the every day magical moments.

07

This family has been with me from just about the beginning of JMP. They have added another 2 members over the years but its been a beautiful journey.

We spent the evening out on our land and it was a gorgeous evening. Twirling, snuggling, kissing, squeezing, belly laughs, picking wild flowers, tall grass and sunsets. One of my favorite ways to put another amazing day to rest. <3

I specialize in “Family” Photography (Children, Newborn and of course Families) with a lifestyle and fine art twist. I love this style blend as it helps me focus on showcasing beautiful connections while incorporating the imagination of the every day magical moments.

05

I am a photographer, but way before I was a photographer, I was a mother. In fact, the whole reason I was drawn to photography was because I had all of these gorgeous “mommy moments” that I wanted to remember for always happening every single day that I just had to figure out how to save them.

I LOVE what I do, but this past year got a little out of control! JMP grew way faster than I anticipated, but it came at a time we really needed the money. We have been dreaming of buying some land to build on for a long time, and 2 months ago, all of our hard work and saving paid off when we closed on 17 acres of property that is just perfect for us in every way. We couldn’t be more excited!

Now that we have the property, so many things need to be done!

BUT

In all of the crazy, I keep thinking “Our new home will be perfect to take more photos in!”, and then after a bit I started realizing that isn’t good enough. We probably wont be in our new home for another 2-3 years. (getting this house ready to sell, selling it, moving, finding a builder, building a house, then moving again…) Our 5th child will hopefully be born later this month (DD is June 30th so I am PRAYING she doesn’t come late. lol) and I refuse to wait until she is 2-3 years old to start documenting our moments again when it will be easy, because to be honest, with 5 kids I am pretty sure there will never be an easy time to do anything!

I have to make our own moments a priority! NOW!!!

So here is the first month. There aren’t nearly as many every day images as I would like but it’s a start. My goal is to blog our own moments once a month over this next year and get a lot better about taking my camera out for my own family much more often. <3

Both of my girls love to color and draw. Part of Lauren’s school work is to do a drawing lesson each day. Emma came along after she was done and decided she wanted to do a bit herself. ;-)

I went to the most amazing photography workshop this past month. In the airport on the way home I found a blue (his FAVORITE color) airplane with doors that open and close. He has played with it constantly ever since.

Little hands with big imaginations.

“Mom, can I have some tap stick?”

A day on Lake Guntersville. It was gorgeous. <3

Sunset. My favorite time of day.

Waiting for the bats to exit their cave for the night!

These are getting printed ^^^ <3

She is trying SO HARD to not take naps any more… Sometimes she just can’t help it though. These sleepy days won’t last much longer…

Michael, my husband graduated with his BA this past month. Accomplishing this while working full time, taking care of us, being a fantastic dad to our 4 kids and now he is talking about getting his Masters. Love you like crazy!!!

Every year in Kodiak, Memorial Day weekend was the time that they hosted the Kodiak Crab Festival. Technically, it wasn’t anything special. Fair food and rides (but they had to be small enough to fit on the ferry). We always enjoyed watching the survival suit race and the Coast Guard drills, but the thing that made it special was the people. The beauty of a small town is that you know just about everyone. Even if it was raining (and it does that an awful lot in Kodiak), you would find people you knew out visiting with their hoods up to protect them from the rain. It was always a weekend that we looked forward to.

When we moved to North Alabama, we knew we needed to find something to keep the homesickness at bay. Photos of the festivities “back home” would fill our Facebook feed and we needed to stay busy. When we heard about the Alabama Jubilee Hot Air Balloon Classic, we figued it was worth a try. It was so much fun! This was the 6th year we have been, and I have never gotten tired of watching my kids as they take it all in. We still see images of friends in Kodiak roll across our FB feed, but we have made so many new memories with our new tradition, and they are our moments forever. <3

This was the first year our youngest was old enough to understand what was going on. Watching her eyes get big as the first balloon rose from the ground, wincing a bit when the heat of the burners hit her face, covering her ears from the noise of the fan… It was all new but so magical for her. She has been talking about it with bright eyes ever since!

It was a good day <3

Overall, I didn’t pull out my camera enough this month… I really need to make it a habit, but I took it out more than I did the month before, and that is progress. Little victories right?

I specialize in “Family” Photography (Children, Newborn and of course Families) with a lifestyle and fine art twist. I love this style blend as it helps me focus on showcasing beautiful connections while incorporating the imagination of the every day magical moments.

23

There are few things that I take as a higher compliment, then when another photographer asks me to photograph their family.

It’s not that photographers are “special” necessarily, but having someone else in the same field, that has trained their eye for editing, knows what to look for in posing, sees things that the average person doesn’t see in images, because they themselves have created/edited thousands themselves… When someone who has experience in photography, who in their own right is a fantastic photographer, asks me to document their precious moments, THAT is just special to me. <3

The beautiful Mama in these images, owns A Selah Moment here in Huntsville, and her husband just returned from a long deployment. I can’t imagine a better time to document this newly reunited family than this moment. I am so glad to have been her choice to give that to them!

I specialize in “Family” Photography (Children, Newborn and of course Families) with a lifestyle and fine art twist. I love this style blend as it helps me focus on showcasing beautiful connections while incorporating the imagination of the every day magical moments.